Published Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:00 AM
Updated Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:02 AM

 

CSU bringing the heat in conference play

The two hottest teams in the Big South will encounter one another this Saturday night at Charleston Southern.

The home-standing Bucs have won five of their last six conference games since starting 0-2 and their next opponent, Coastal Carolina, has tied the Big South record for best start after 20 games. The 1991-92 Liberty team and the 2008-09 VMI team also had 17-3 starts.

Tip is set for 7:30 at CSU, where the Bucs are 8-0 this season.

“Coastal Carolina is having a great year,” CSU coach Barclay Radebaugh said. “Coach (Cliff) Ellis deserves consideration for national coach of the year honors for the job he is doing. They’re a very experienced team that is playing with a lot of confidence. We know that the game is going to be a real challenge for our team.”

The Chanticleers are 7-1 in the conference.

CSU (10-8, 5-3) is coming off a 70-55 victory over defending league champion Radford this past Saturday at home, and Radford handed Coastal Carolina its only conference loss.

“I told the guys that we’re where we are because of our attitude,” Radebaugh said. “All season long, we’ve focused on one day at a time... I think we just have to come to work and stay humble.”

CSU’s starting backcourt had another outstanding performance against the Highlanders, combining for nearly half the offense with 39 points.

Jamarco Warren led all scorers with 21 points on 6 of 10 shooting, while adding three assists and two steals. Freshman Jeremy Sexton added 18 points and knocked down three 3-pointers.

“Those guys had a great game,” Radebaugh said. “Jamarco and Jeremy both were huge for us. Jeremy is playing beyond his years and Jamarco has become our leader. Over the last seven games, he's played impeccable basketball, with great poise.”

After Radford took a 28-27 lead at halftime, the Bucs eventually got in gear offensively. A 19-5 run over a nearly eight-minute stretch in the second half helped CSU turn a 38-36 deficit into a 55-43 lead.

?Charleston Southern, which shot 52 percent in the second half, held a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

Coastal Carolina won its last game too, beating High Point 75-58 Saturday.

Chanticleers senior guard Mario Edwards tied a career high with 28 points and redshirt-senior forward Joseph Harris became the Big South’s all-time leading rebounder in the win.

Harris had 15 rebounds and set the new mark with 5:36 left in the game. He passed High Point’s Arizona Reid and now has 1,017 career rebounds.

Junior forward Chad Gray leads the Chanticleers at 15.5 PPG. Harris (15.3 ppg) and Edwards (11.7 ppg) also average double figures for Coastal.

Barefootin’: Charleston Southern women’s coach Julie Goodenough and Radebaugh, and their respective staffs will be going Barefoot for Bare Feet as part of the Big South Conference’s support of Samaritan’s Feet.

Samaritan’s Feet is an organization created to provide shoes and a message of hope to the 300 million children around the world who don’t have shoes to wear.

According to the Samaritan’s Feet organization, a $5 donation can provide a pair of shoes for a child.

Donations of money, as well as gently used athletic shoes of all sizes will be collected by CSU during the games. Fans can also donate by texting SHOES to 85944, and a $5 donation will be added to your next phone bill.

Both coaches will coach in their bare feet during the basketball double header Saturday.

The women's team will take on Liberty at 5 p.m.